Pirelli confirm compounds for October races

Pirelli have confirmed which tyre compounds the Formula One teams will have at their disposal for the races in Japan, Korea and India.

With the Italian tyre manufacturer having knowledge of all three circuits from last season, the combinations will not come as any surprise to the Formula One teams in the paddock, with just one slight alteration for Japan.

For the race at Suzuka, Pirelli have opted to have a jump in compounds with the P Zero Yellow soft tyre partnered with the P Zero Silver hard tyre, this combination will also be used in India and is a combination previously used in Spain and Britain.

For the Korean Grand Prix, teams will have the P Zero Red super-soft tyre and the P Zero Yellow soft tyre. This combination will also be used in Singapore and was last used at Monte Carlo and Montreal.

Despite the less frequent discussion over the tyres this season, the Pirelli compound choices still hold an important part of the mechanics of a great race weekend, with the teams desperate to understand the tyres and the conditions to enable them to find the ‘sweet spot’.

If teams can tune in their cars to the tyres they can find a massive advantage over their rivals, just like Sergio Perez found in the closing stages of the Italian Grand Prix.

Having only made one pit-stop during the race, Perez ended up on the perfect tyre at the perfect moment, which enabled him to set times 1.5 to 2 seconds a lap faster than his rivals getting him past both Ferrari’s of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso to finish 2nd after starting down in 12th.